After confirmation some months back of an official Avatar: The Last Airbender move being in the works, more details surface regarding the highly anticipated project.  Unique to its kind as an animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbender also has a huge following among the older markets, and this is seen to be one of its strength when it finally comes out.

That being said, The Last Airbender is set for release on July 2, 2010, with filming beginning in Philadelphia in May 2009.  It will also be shot in Greenland.  Meanwhile, the working title had the word "Avatar" stricken out so as not to be confused with the James Cameron project of the same title.  With Cameron proclaiming that the upcoming Avatar movie will dwarf Titanic, even an M. Night Shyamalan feature better stay away from it.

As you may know, the first movie will be part of a trilogy of live-action films based on the series, with the first one tackling the main characters' adventures in Book One.  It is a joint venture by Paramount Pictures' MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies.

Considering the massive 19 million viewers who tuned in during Avatar: The Last Airbender's finale, the movie will most likely be a hit.

In other news, Avatar is proving to be a very marketable franchise, with a wide array of games inspired by the series.

"It was just the story. I just loved the story," Shyamalan said.  "I loved the characters in the story and I felt like I could be me inside this larger canvas of this very long-form movie.  I think it inherently had kind of family issues and serious larger topics--at the center, genocide--all kinds of stuff. Cultural differences at the center.  It has Buddhism, Hinduism, things I'm interested in. It does have martial arts in a way that's not bang bang bang, but more about the person mastering yourself and the things that I love.  I took martial arts for a long time. A ten-year-old at the center. T hat point of view felt good, like I could do my thing."


-Glenn L. Diaz, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Nickelodeon
(Image Courtesy of Nickelodeon)